Leaning in, I smiled and said, “One Belhaven. And you’re going to need more ice.”
“What?” he questioned. The older man beside him just nodded.
“Pretty boy,” a voice said. I turned back to face the three idiots behind me with knives. “How about you give us the cash, and we let you make it home in one piece?”
The old man put the beer right beside me. Reaching over, I grabbed it and twisted the top off, my eyes never meeting theirs.
“Did you think this over?” I questioned before drinking.
“You think we fuckin’ playin’ with ya?” the second idiot shouted, spit landing on his own beard. “We’ll end you right here.”
“The money. Where it at?”
Sighing, I put my beer down and answered, “Next to your mother’s balls, ya bas.”
“You fuck—” The moment the first charged, knife out, I grabbed his arm, kneeing him in the stomach and slamming his face onto the bar when the second came up to me. I took the knife and stabbed him in the shoulder, and he went down quickly, leaving me standing face to face with idiot number three. Before he could blink, I had a .44 in his face, his eyes wide. For a split second, I saw him relax, which meant one thing.
Facing back, I fired once into the kneecap of the first idiot who didn’t know when to stay down, before pointing it back in front me.
“Would you like to rethink this decision now?”
He dropped the knife, backing away before making a run for it. Moving back over to the bar, I grabbed my beer, moved back to my table, and once again kicked up my feet.
Southbend had to be one of the few places were you could shoot a man in the knee and no one would bat an eye, let alone tell a soul. That, on top of the fact that Austin was blocking out all of the phones made it insanely easy for me to be here. Hell, some of them even looked bored. I didn’t blame them, but again, I would wait. Someone knew something.
Amelia
There has to be more I can do, I thought, stepping out of my heels and walking to the window.
I felt ornamental. I wanted to do something—truthfully, I wanted to be the badass. It was selfish, really, but I was annoyed that Noah had taken Austin with him. That he was the logical choice. But then again, what could I do other than make a bigger mess out of things?
Ring.
Ring.
Ring.
“Mayko, hey,” I said into the phone, moving to take a seat on the couch.
“Hey, Amelia. I’m sorry to bother you. I know you’re super busy—”
“No, it’s fine, Mayko. What’s wrong?” She didn’t sound like her normal free self.
“I’ve been trying to contact mom …”
Shit.
We—Noah, Austin, and I—weren’t going to bring her up until New Year’s. Until then, I was just supposed to—
“Amelia?”
“Huh? I’m sorry, Mayko, I haven’t heard from her in a while. Is everything okay?” I questioned, playing with the chain around my neck.
“Yeah. I mean … no,” she sighed into the phone. “I know she’s flakey, but she was supposed to be getting an honorary award from W.E.W.A.—you know, Women Empowering Women Association. She made this huge deal about Antigone and I being there, and we get there an hour early, and she isn’t here yet. We tried calling all of her phones, and we even called her house in Miami, and she isn’t picking up. I’m getting a bad feeling.”
“Mayko, breathe.” Goddamn it. I had forgotten all about her award. She had talked about it earlier in the year, but like I’d learned to do with most things Esther said, I had tuned it out. “She most likely fell in love again and ran off to some island—like last time.”
“But—”